CompuServe Messages

Adding a blitter to the ST should be able to speed up large movements of text, just like on the Amiga. But I would wonder just how useful any current (or even future) programs will find this. If the ST's BIOS routines are really that slow, I'd expect folks to start writing to the screen directly, instead of going through the BIOS. This is done on the C64 and the IBM PeeCee, its not that unusual. If this is done by a program, the addition of a blitter won't help at all. The blitter would likely be hooked into the BIOS somehow, and anyone using the BIOS would get the speedup. Which brings me to future programs. Lets assume a reasonable blitter is available, and its hooked into the BIOS. Now I'm writing my new SpeedText program, and I want a display of 10K baud or so. I run it on my blitter-equipped machine, and it works ok, BIOS and everything. Now I pull by blitter card, and things grind to a halt. My program is now too slow to be useful. My choices at this point are (1) Specify that this program only works on blitter equipped STs -> I loose 80% of current customers, (2) Don't tell anyone about the need for a blitter, and when they call up and complain, tell them to go out and buy it -> Atari loves me for helping to sell blitters, and my company gets such a bad rap for being sneaky that I go out of business, (3) I code for all machines, testing for the Blitter, and using it if its there, bypassing the BIOS otherwise -> more complex coding on my part, larger program, or (4) I say to hell with the blitter, bypassing the BIOS give me enough speed anyway. As you can see, an aftermarket addition can never be as good as something built in. -Dave